Toothbrush usage monitoring system
AssigneeUnilever Home & Personal Care USA, Division of Conopco, Inc.
InventorsDerek Guy Savill, Robert Lindsay Treloar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is proposed for analysing the usage of a toothbrush made by a subject. The position of the toothbrush is monitored using a position sensor on the brush, and the position of the teeth is monitored by a position sensor mounted in a known fixed relation to the teeth. The resultant data is used to find the relative positions of the toothbrush and teeth over time. Statistical analysis of this data permits the identification of habitual brushing failures by subjects of the toothbrush. The toothbrush may transmit the output of its position sensor to a data analysis unit as a wireless signal. The toothbrush may also be provided with further sensors, such as pH and pressure sensors, the output of which is used in the statistical analysis to enrich the results.
Claims13
A method of monitoring the position of a toothbrush relative to teeth of a subject, the method comprising:
- providing a toothbrush having a first position sensor, the first position sensor at least being sensitive to changes in position and orientation;
- providing a second position sensor in fixed positional relationship to the teeth, the second position sensor being sensitive to changes in position and orientation;
- transmitting the output of the first position sensor and second position sensor to a processing apparatus;
- comparing via the processing apparatus the two sensor outputs to monitor the position of the toothbrush relative to the teeth over a period of time;
- locating a third position sensor in turn in a known positional relationship to the second position sensor and at least four locations on or in fixed relationship to the teeth, and comparing the locations to corresponding positions of a computer model to derive a transformation between a reference frame of the computer model and a reference frame of the second position sensor.
A system for monitoring the position of a toothbrush relative to teeth of a subject, the system comprising:
- a toothbrush having a first position sensor, the first position sensor at least being sensitive to changes in position and orientation;
- a second position sensor for attachment in fixed positional relationship to the teeth, the second position sensor being sensitive to changes in position and orientation;
- a third position sensor located in a known positional relationship to the second position sensor and at least four locations on or in fixed relationship to the teeth;
- and
- data processing apparatus arranged to receive the output of the first position sensor, second position sensor and third position sensor, and to compare the sensor outputs to monitor the position of the toothbrush relative to the teeth over a period of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.